Animal Farm – English Assessment Essay

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Animal Farm – English Assessment

‘Compare the course of the revolution in Animal Farm to the Russian Revolution.’

The book Animal Farm is a children’s fairy tale, based on the rebellion against the Russian Revolution in 1917. The author, George Orwell, shows how people can be fooled into believing anything.

The animals in the story, each represent major aspects of society during the Russian Revolution.
Old Major represents both Marx and Lenin in that he introduces the fundamental theories and ideals on which the revolution is to be based, for example when he orders a meeting with all the animals to tell them about the premonition/dream he had. One Marxist theory expressed, is that ‘an animal’s labour has more essential value than is required for its own needs. The surplus is stolen by parasitic man’, so in other words the animals/the working class people were over worked in that they produced more than needed and that the higher status people (e.g. the Czar Nicholas II/ Mr. Jones) would ‘steal’ the extra produce. The Lenin side of Old Major’s character is shown in the part of his speech, which reduces complex philosophy to basic statements and ideas, which everyone can understand.
Mr. Jones is the cause of the rebellion at the farm the same way that Czar Nicholas II was the cause of the Russian revolution.
Pilkington and Frederick each represented types of man, but also different nations. Pilkington is a gentleman farmer whose farm, Foxwood, is badly managed because he spends all his time enjoying country sports. Frederick on the other hand is aggressive, efficient and extremely cruel to the animals on his farm, unlike Pilkington who is merely neglectful. There is an obvious link between Frederick and Germany: Frederick the Great was a famous Prussian king and ‘Pinchfield’ (i.e. ‘steal land’) is a reference to Hitler’s terrible ambitions. Pilkington therefore represents the Allies, particularly Britain and France – ‘Foxwood’ sounds...